EFF and Government Face Off Over Lobbying Disclosure Delays in Friday Hearing

Agencies Fail to Release Records on Telecom Lobbying Activity

San Francisco - On Friday, April 4, at 9 a.m., the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will urge a federal judge to speed the government's release of information about a campaign to change federal surveillance law to benefit telecommunications companies.

Congress is currently considering granting immunity to telecoms that participated in unlawful electronic surveillance on millions of ordinary Americans. But the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have failed to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents reflecting telecom carriers' efforts to avoid legal responsibility for their role in the government's surveillance operations.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White has already issued a tentative ruling granting EFF's request for a preliminary injunction against the government. In November, another federal judge ordered ODNI to comply with a similar EFF request.

EFF also represents the plaintiffs in Hepting v. AT&T, a class-action lawsuit brought by AT&T customers accusing the telecommunications company of violating their rights by illegally assisting the National Security Agency in widespread domestic surveillance.